Solon Borland, a Senator from Arkansas; born near Suffolk, Nansemond County, Va., September 21, 1808; attended preparatory schools in North Carolina; studied and afterwards practiced medicine; settled in Little Rock, Ark.; served throughout the Mexican War as a major in the Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry; was appointed and subsequently elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Ambrose H. Sevier and served from March 30, 1848, to April 11, 1853, when his resignation became effective; chairman, Committee on Printing (Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses), Committee on Public Lands (Thirty-third Congress); served as United States Minister to Nicaragua and to the other Central American Republics 1853-1854; declined an appointment as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico; returned to Arkansas and resumed the practice of medicine in Little Rock until 1861; during the Civil War raised a brigade of troops for the Confederate Army; later was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate Army; died near Houston, Tex., on January 1, 1864; interment in City Cemetery, Houston, Tex.

The above biography from Biographical Directory of US Congress

Notes from William Boggess:

Solon served throughout the Mexican War as Major of Yell's Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry and as Volunteer Aide to Major General Worth. On January 23, 1847 he was taken prisoner. Sonlon Borland escaped with Captain C. C. Danley on Sunday, August 1, 1847, when the army marched by the house they were hiding in; Borland fell in with some regulars, newpaper statement by Solon: 'I joined the army a few minutes after the action of Contreras, and getting a musket, fell into the ranks and did some little duty that day. While engaged in firing, in the midst of some riflemen, who should I meet but our old friend and townsman, Captain Steve Tucker, for it was with his company among whom I had fallen in, without being aware of it at the time. We took one cordial embrace, and went to firing; Steve, himself, was handling a rifle with right good will.'

During the Civil War Solon Borland raised a brigade of troops for the Confederate Army and took possession of Fort Smith April 24, 1861; subsequently raised the Third Regiment, Arkansas Confederate Cavalry, and became its colonel.

Solon Borland appears in Pulaski County Those Who Served®

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